Want To Stop For Lunch?

George Town to Thompson Bay |  5.8 Hours  |  38 Miles  

Our friend Neal (Harvest Moon) had his drone flying early this morning and shared a birds-eye view of Crossroads. Not long thereafter, we were raising the dinghy onto the upper deck and making final preparations for our departure from George Town. The wind and waves were as calm as we had seen them in weeks and it was a perfect day for travel. Our anchor was up before 9:00 and we made our way south along the shore of Great Exuma. Paradigm Shift was in front of us as we passed Moriah Harbor Cay National Park and continued south to Little Exuma. Once again, the multiple hues of blue were amazing. I have yet to take a photo that comes close to capturing these colors. (In my former life as a graphic designer, I'd say they were out of gamut.) 

Barry and I were chatting about how this run will set new boundaries as the furthest we've ever gone aboard Crossroads. We had rented a car in 2019 and driven as far south as there were dirt roads to follow. I rattled off the places we visited, where we ate lunch, and what we did, but he countered that he could not remember any of it. The water was calm and I went to Fiberglass Beach to enjoy the sunshine. Shortly thereafter, Greg called on the radio and asked if we wanted to stop for lunch at Santana's. That was the restaurant where we had eaten before! The decision was made and we both anchored close to shore. We lowered our dinghy and went over to pick up Glenda, Greg, Jaxon, and Cooper. We ran up on the beach and walked a short distance across the sand to the restaurant. Lunch service didn't begin until noon, so we grabbed a table and ordered some beverages. With a few minutes on our hands, Glenda and I went next door to Mom's Bakery and each picked up a loaf of homemade bread. Back at Santana's, we all enjoyed both our lunches and the view. It was quite a special opportunity. Thanks to "The Lady on the Beach" for taking this photo as we prepared to return to the motherships.

Again, it was just a gorgeous day. I believe the water in William's Town is the clearest and bluest yet. With Glenda and Greg on the bow of our dinghy, and Paradigm Shift on the horizon, it was a picture perfect moment. Oops, not quite perfect ... Jaxon and Cooper weren't in the photo, so Take 2 was required. They all unloaded safely and we headed back to Crossroads. Paradigm Shift looked to be hovering more than floating as we pulled away. What a wonderful stop this had been, but we had four more hours of travel to reach our destination. We got onboard and prepared to raise the dinghy for departure, a process that we have done close to 1,000 times before. I slid the crane over to lower the lifting cable, but there was no dinghy. What the ...

Somehow, in one of the calmest sea states we had ever experienced, the line holding the dinghy had come loose. I yelled to Barry and before I could get downstairs, he had jumped in and was swimming toward our wayward vessel. He reached it and guided it over to Paradigm Shift where Glenda offered a helping hand (as she does so well and so frequently). Barry got in, started the outboard, and came back to start that process all over again. That was a real buzz-kill on the great day we were having to that point. The remainder of our trip into Thompson Bay, Long Island was uneventful. This destination is the furthest east and south for Crossroads. We anchored, put the sunshades on the windows, and lowered the dinghy before relaxing on the flybridge and watching the sun set. The conditions seemed ideal for a green flash, but there was none tonight. We'll watch again tomorrow.